


Death's Gift

by deadrobins97



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, The Sandman (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:22:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27102643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deadrobins97/pseuds/deadrobins97
Summary: John constantine once said "Well, isn't it obvious? Jason came back because death was always too fond of him"
Relationships: Catherine Todd & Jason Todd & Willis Todd, Death of the Endless & Jason Todd, Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne
Comments: 10
Kudos: 177





	Death's Gift

The first time Jason remember seeing her, he was six. A neighbor had just died and it was his son who had found the body. Twenty minutes had passed and the police and the paramedics had yet to arrive.

He was crying, Mr. Sanchez was a nice man, he always gave him candy when the older man saw Jason outside playing while his parents had a screaming match and while the older man couldn’t speak English, he taught Jason a couple of Spanish words, enough to help him with his school homework. Sometimes he would also read his favorite books out loud for the kid when he would show up on his doorstep covering bruises on his arms, Jason kept his love for Marquez and Allende for this very same reason.

She was pale and wearing all black, black shirt, black pants, black hair and big black eyes. She was standing at the door smoking while Mr. Sanchez’s son was still frantically speaking rapid Spanish to someone of the phone.

Jason had just come from school and had to look at his son crying on the first floor before rushing into their floor to look at the opened door of his favorite neighbor’s place.

He was about to go in before a hand stopped him, it was the pretty lady in black pants.

“You don’t wanna go in kid” she said in a detached kind of voice, still the cigarette on her lips

“Please move lady, I need to see him” Jason was looking at the floor, he knew it was a bad idea, he still didn’t care

“You really don’t kid, save yourself the bad dreams” she replied, while cigarette ash was falling to the floor.

“Please move” there were tears in his eyes now, he was very stubborn

“Kid”

“Please” his voice was so small this time, his dad always said his stubborn attitude was going to get him in trouble, he still didn’t care.

The black pants lady gave a sigh and dropped her cigarette into the floor, putting it out by stomping it with her black boots. She then got down on her knees to look at the small sad boy on in front of her.

“Why?” she looked into his eyes, they were indeed very sad, too sad for such a small child

“Why what?” he pouted, it was cute

“Why do you need to see him?”

“Because” Jason really didn’t know why, but he wanted to see the old man one last time “I owe him”

“Why” she insisted, this little boy troubled her

“Why do you care lady?” the tears were still falling on his small cheeks and the cute pout was still there

“You might say I’m a curious lady” she gave him a small smile and her eyes turned soft, he needed someone and he looks like he had no one right now “Where are your parents?”

“That’s none of your business lady” his mom was working at the bodega two streets over saving money for the expensive medicine he always saw her take in the bathroom and his dad is somewhere in Gotham with two-face’s crew probably planning their next big move.

“Alright” she knew everything the moment it crossed his mind but he wasn’t going to tell him that “then why do you own him, huh?” she passed her hands through his hair, it was very long and still had the softness of baby hair.

“It’s just that” his eyes were still tearing up but they didn’t fall anymore “he was my friend and he was very nice, I just” he took a deep breath and looked into her eyes “I wanna know he’s going to heaven”

“He is” she answered him, after all this was her job and she was going to take his soul to heaven herself, José Sanchez had been a very nice man who had cared for his whole family and apparently also for the little lonely boy that lived across his doorstep.

“How would you know?” he was indeed a very stubborn boy, he reminded her of her own little brother

“I just do, I’m also a very smart lady” she said last while getting up and letting the just-arrived paramedics into the scene.

They moved liked they didn’t even notice her into the room, the son now had a crying woman into his arms as they put the older man into the gurney, he had his eyes closed and looked peaceful, almost like he was still sleeping. As they moved into the stairs the lady started to follow them until Jason took her arm.

“Will you make sure he goes to heaven?” his big green eyes were still red from crying and so was his little nose, she felt bad seeing him cry, even if it wasn’t her fault.

“I will Jason, I promise” she held his head in her hands and she quickly gave him a soft kiss on his forehead before rushing down the stairs and disappearing.

Jason never noticed how he never told her his name.

He could still feel her soft lips on his forehead.

It was nice.

The next time he saw her he was ten and his mom had just died, he was still looking at her cold body on their living room and his dad was in jail, had been for the last year; so he was alone and he had still to call 911, he knew what she was taking were drugs and that they were killing her but she always promised him she was fine, that she was going to quit and that now that Willis was in jail she was going to get a better job and that they were going to live in a nicer place.

Such promises ended the moment he saw her on the cold floor with pale skin and blue lips.

He had no one now and he still hadn’t called the paramedics, he wasn’t even crying, he was tired from crying. He should’ve done more, he should’ve helped her, she was sick and all he thought was about himself he should’ve-

“Jason” there was a soft voice right next to him, but he couldn’t look away from her mom’s body, her eyes were still open and dried vomit was still on her lips.

“Please” he didn’t know what he was asking for, but his bones felt heavy and his lips felt dry and he still couldn’t cry, he didn’t feel real.

“Jason” what could she say? What could even help him in this moment? A boy this young should never have to live something like this and yet this city always managed to surprise her with the horrors that its habitants had to live on a daily basis.

“Please, don’t take her away” he didn’t know how or what really her job was but he wasn’t stupid either “please” he still couldn’t cry but his felt like he couldn’t breathe and his hands latched on his mother’s shirt.

“I’m sorry” she didn’t was how he knew and this wasn’t the time to ask “I have to”

“No please” he looked up to her, his big green eyes filled with so much hurt and yet not a single tear “I’ll give you anything, everything please” she could see that he was being honest, he really was willing to give the little he had for his mother’s life “please don’t take her away from me, she’s all I have, please”

“I’m sorry Jason but I have to” how this little human managed to pull her heart strings like this, she would never know.

“Please” he still hadn’t let go of his mother’s flower shirt, it had dried vomit on it “then take me please and let her stay”

“Jason I can’t do that” it’s not your time and hopefully not for a while still.

“Please I’ll be good I won’t say anything I promise just please don’t take her” he looked so brave, so filled with love for a woman that chose chemicals over her little boy, one who had so much love in his heart it was amazing it wasn’t ripping his chest apart.

Or maybe it was and that’s why they were having this conversation.

“I can’t Jason, that’s not how this works” it really wasn’t but the little boy couldn’t possibly understand yet the complications between the living and the dead.

Silence passed between both of them, the room felt heavy and the dried vomit was starting to smell, the house had no heating and the outside cold was getting in. The little boy only had one red sweatshirt that had clearly seen better days and some grey sweatpants that were too small on him already.

“Will she go to heaven?” the little boy asked in such a small voice she almost missed him; he still hasn’t cried but his hand had left his mother shirt. The other woman could only look at him, and for the first time, felt regret in her job.

“Yes” she lied, she didn’t really know, with Catherine Todd it was out of her hands but she really didn’t want to tell that to this little boy that she had now grown fond of.

“Okay” he was on his knees and brought his arms to his chest, to keep himself warm or maybe to hold himself as there was now no one for him, she didn’t know and the fact that this made her stomach feel like rocks only worried her more.

She did not want to have this little boy look at her doing her job, so she got up and then took him into her arms; he was too light for a boy her age but this wasn’t her business anymore even if the little voice at the back of her head was giving her ways of making it hers. But she still had an important job to do, too many people depended on her.

They reached his small room and put him to his little bed, it had little cars on the bedsheets; one small pillow and a little brown teddy bear with one eye missing. The little boy had his head on her shoulders and when she tried to get him to lay on the bed, his little hands grabbed hard unto her back before letting go. He hadn’t said anything but his eyes were starting to get wet and nose was now even more red, as she held his small hand, she noticed they were cold and she held one in both her hands trying to make them warmer but knowing nothing would really help right now.

“Take good care of her” his eyes seemed even greener now, and she could tell he was just waiting for her to leave to start crying “Promise me” he looked so brave, he had no idea who she was and yet.

“I promise Jason” she felt the weight of the promise and maybe it was foolish of her to do it, but this little boy had somehow taken a little piece of her heart.

He didn’t reply, but he turned his back to her holding his little teddy bear on his chest. The minute she closed the door she could hear his crying; it was silent and heart breaking and for the first time she really felt the weight of her job. But she still had to do it, so she went back to the living room and finally called 911.

The third time he saw her was while in robin, they had a case with a little girl that had been saved from a human trafficking ring, she was the oldest one of the group and had always protected the other girls, she did not deserve to die.

“Hello Jason” he was standing with his back on the window looking at the door as she stepped in “It’s been a while little one”

“You can’t take her” he was taller now, fuller also, she could see that being with the millionaire had really helped him, even if he put him at risk every night. But even when she was around doing other jobs, she could see him flying and laughing; it was good for him “I won’t let you”

“Oh” she answered while getting closer to the little girl on the bed, she was very thin and her tanned skin was so pale it looked wrong, everything about the scene was wrong, but this was human’s business, she had long passed trying to understand the cruelty that these made to one and other.

“Yeah, I’m a hero now and I won’t let you take her” he was serious but he was also wearing bright green pants and he was still so short it only looked cute.

“Oh Jason” he really had such a heart “You know it doesn’t work like that” this little human somehow always managed to make her rethink her decisions.

“Why?” he was trying to appear like he didn’t care, but his red nose and the fact that he wouldn’t look at her eyes gave him away.

“It just does, little one”

“But why?” he finally looked at her, he was angry but his eyes looked so sad, they always had “why? She was good, wasn’t she? She was a hero? Why does she have to die?”

It was the first time they had addressed the elephant in the room, she always just called it her job and Jason never called it anything else, but she should’ve known after all he had figured her out the very first time they met; he was such a smart little boy.

“Because things need to die my boy, it’s the nature of life” she came closer to him and finally took his head into her hands, she was secretly happy she could still hold him like this “things need to die to bring new life”

For a moment the only noise in the room were the medical machines in the room until Jason sighed and then put his hands on hers still on his face, he closed his eyes and held unto her for a while.

“Will she be okay?” he asked looking at the little girl on the bed

“She will” her name was Joseline, she was 11 and she was going to see her parents again tonight, they deserved the peace this city stole from them.

“Okay, I understand I just” he let her hands fall but he still held them, he was now looking at the floor “it’s not fair”

“I know” she did

“Why do they get to live while she dies? Why?” he was now looking up to her, his eyes watering up “Why?”

“I don’t know Jason” she didn’t and she did, it was complicated

“I know, I just hate it, they should be the ones dying” they were and soon she knew, but she couldn’t tell him that.

While he had grown a couple of inches from the last time she saw him, he was still short enough to fit into her arms and so she hugged him, enveloped him completely. To what purpose? She didn’t know but the boy latched onto her back and let some silent tears fall unto her stomach, she let him cry as long as he needed.

The last time she saw him was the worst day of her immortal life, it was the day she was supposed to take him.

She knew the moment she felt the call that it was him, his little human boy, his life cut short by a maniac clown that had managed to escape her for such a long time.

When she landed the whole place was on fire, pieces of the exploded building everywhere, Bruce was holding unto his son with tears in his eyes and a look in his eyes she had seen over the years of her work.

A look that was always the answer to why parents shouldn’t live longer than their children.

The scene stopped for a moment as Mr. Wayne was trying to talk to her little human boy, but she knew he didn’t have long, he wasn’t going to make it.

By the gods, she really hated her job right now.

His little robin outfit was in tatters and half his body was covered in blood, his blood; so many broken bones, so many bruises. His cloudy eyes looked up to her and he still managed to surprise her, he smiled at her.

“I was waiting for you” he said between coughs “You took your time”

“Jason” she said his name as she rushed to his side, his little human boy, his little one, the one that had taken her heart without knowing “Jason, no”

“It’s okay” his lips were dry and there was blood pouring down his lips “I’ll be okay”

“Jason” she couldn’t say anything, she had no words for this, she never expected him to leave so fast, he wasn’t supposed to die here, it wasn’t his time yet.

“It’s okay” he was so calm now, his little boy with the big heart was trying to console her when that was her job “I understand now” with his last strength he laid his hand on hers “just promise me one thing” she could only nod as tears kept falling of her “take care of the old man here, he’s not very good at that” he smiled one last time looking over the other human, before taking his last breath.

“Jason? JASON” Bruce Wayne screamed as he kept trying to bring his son back but it was all useless.

He felt so light in her hands, so small and looking down, she saw how he looked just liked the first time she saw him, small and with his big green eyes, looking like the saddest boy in the world.

No, she couldn’t do it, she couldn’t take this precious boy away, he wasn’t supposed to die, not yet and not like this.

“I can’t do this Jason” she said as she looked down at the little boy in her arms and thought of his little red hoodie and his bedsheet with little cars, as she remembered the love he felt for that little girl he saved at the hospital, as she could sometimes hear him read love in times of cholera out loud because it was Mr. Sanchez favorite book. She didn’t have the strength to lift her arms and take her little boy away “I can’t, please do not ask this of me”

“Sister” a man said behind her, the man was pale with big black hair, they looked alike

“I can’t brother, I’m sorry” she was holding him so strongly in her arms, she would be crushing him were he alive “I can’t”

“It’s our jobs, we keep the balance” he started walking towards her, Bruce was still crying over his sons’ dead body

“He wasn’t supposed to die! He wasn’t supposed to go like this” she was screaming and black tears were running down her face

“You don’t know that” she did and didn’t, that’s how this worked

“I don’t care” she really didn’t, and that was dangerous in their line of work

The Sandman looked into the small boy’s soul; it was so bright so light, so filled with love it was always a pity when such a soul left this earth. Even in death, the small boy held unto his sisters back so strongly it would’ve left angry red marks.

Were he alive.

“Please brother, just this once, please” she begged and she never once had begged before, this little one must be so special to hold his sisters’ heart like this.

He sighed and left, this was his gift as he was always too soft on her sister, it would probably get him in trouble one of these days, but today Jason Todd would live once again, it looks like he has earned it.

So then Jason woke in a black coffin, and started screaming.

**Author's Note:**

> just and idea i had in the gc lol, is it a happy ending? idk but i like to think so i guess, anyways hope you liked it!!!


End file.
